Two years ago
Bob, Kolleen, and I hiked the Maple Pass Heather Pass loop and spent
the night at Wing Lake. Suzanne came later and made it to Lewis Lake
the first day. She came up to Wing in the morning of the second day. It
was larch season and we had brilliant colors around the loop and
spectacular golden larch trees at Maple Pass as well as from Lewis to
Wing Lakes. It was time for a return. This time Suzanne and I were
joined my David (Opus) and Gary. By 7:00 am we were out of Seattle
heading north. It was also the first day of deer hunting season.

The forecast was for sunny and cold (mid 30s) on Saturday, a cold
night, and then up into the 40s and still sunny on Sunday. Perfect time
for a larch backpacking trip. When we arrived at the Rainy Pass
trailhead it was 27 degrees with snow in the parking lot. Hmm... not
quite what we were expecting. There were only a few other cars there.
By 10:15 we were on our way. The trail to Heather Pass is very smooth
and gentle. It gains about 1150' from the 4850' trailhead to the 6000'
pass. Snow began immediately but was not yet tramped down and slick. We
did fine without traction aids.

The way begins in forest but soon we had some openings which provided
nice views to the surrounding peaks. After the junction with the route
to Lake Ann we again broke out into the open. We could look down on
Lake Ann and see larch trees on the slopes above. The larch looked at
or just past their peak. With all the snow it was looking unlikely we
would have great color for our expected loop over Maple pass on the way
out.

Suzanne moved out ahead while the rest of us were busy with lots of
photos. Soon we began to look for the trail to Lewis and Wing Lakes. We
rose higher until we could see Suzanne down below in a meadow. Oops, we
went a little too far. We dropped on down to meet her. Thankfully there
was a boot path as I did not like the idea of crossing the long boulder
field on snow without a track to follow. We crossed the meadow where
there were some nicely backlit larch trees. The sun helped make up for
the freezing temperature.

Once across the meadow we dropped a bit and promptly lost any route. We
could see the whole boulder field was snow covered. Powdery snow and
completely unconsolidated. Any step could fall through the big chasms
between boulders. We had a discussion as to whether or not to proceed.
We decided to at least give it a chance and I went out ahead. I angled
left and soon ran into a boot path. It had only been set by a few
people and was sketchy but it was there. Off we went.

The going across the boulder field was glacially slow. We had to test
every step. Part way across the boulders became much larger. Suzanne's
dog Gusto had some trouble here. She took off his pack and that helped
a lot. We dropped off the big boulders to find last years snow pack
with a few inches of new on top. A few short sections were actually not
bad. Most of the way was a pain. At long last we dropped down to the
Lewis Lake outlet creek. Crossing was easy. The route climbed the far
bank and would through trees to a vantage point above Lewis Lake.
That's not how I remembered it but tracks were better than no tracks.

We had been in shade for the last hour or more. My gloves were soaked
from grabbing onto snowy boulders for balance. It was still no warmer
than 32 degrees. My hands were almost numb. Gary and I had remembered
to put in gaiters but David and Suzanne had wet and cold feet. On the
shore of Lewis lake we stopped for lunch in the sun. It felt 20 degrees
warmer. Several other backpackers caught up with us. Soon the group
grew to six. A few of them did not look to be well prepared as they
wore cotton jeans and tennis shoes. I hope they had dry clothes to
change into.

By the time we finished lunch it was 2:00. Nearly four hours took us
less than 4 miles. The route continued on and in fact it often was on
the summer route to Wing Lake. Snow was about 4-8 inches
deep. Not a lot but enough to obscure the route. We were soon back in
the shade and the larch trees did not stand out like they did on our
previous visit. The higher we climbed the more needles we found on the
ground. Still, there were good photo opportunities. Unfortunately I was
having camera troubles. About 70 shots ended up turning out black. I
had no usable shots from the middle of the boulder field to Wing Lake.
That was disappointing.

After some 5 3/4 hours we made it to 6905' Wing Lake. It was easily
twice as long as on the prior trip when the ground was bare. Hunting
for a campsite brought us to the other group. They set all the tracks
and we thanked them. We found a good site for our camp. By 5:00 pm
clouds were definitely moving in. Minute by minute we lost blue sky.
What happened to the clear forecast? After dinner everyone headed
indoors. It was dark by 7:00 pm as we settled in for a long night. Gary
and I had my Hilleberg Nallo 3 and we had lots of room. It was also
pretty warm. In the tent I never saw a temperature below 33 degrees all
night. Inside the vestibule was sub freezing.

During the night I awoke a number of times. Many of them I could hear a
pitter patter on the tent roof. Falling larch needles? Not all night.
How could it rain if it was supposed to get down to 19 degrees? A 4:00
am bathroom break showed it to be ice pellets falling gently. By 7:00
am we were all awake and thoughts of looping over Maple Pass were
rapidly being replaced with thoughts of just getting back across the
boulder field in the rain.

When the rain stopped we packed up fast. By 9:05 we were underway.
Thankfully the rain held off. Rain is not so bad but slushy snow on
boulders is no fun at all. The route down was easy to follow though
slicker than the day before. We had to test slushy foot steps and could
not go as fast as we would have like. I had hoped than morning sunshine
would give good photos of the larch to replace the ones I had lost the
day before. It was not to be. It looked as much like mid January and
mid October. When we reached Lewis Lake we chose to go around the right
side instead of all the was around the left side where the trail goes.

This route was shorter though it did require more boulder and rock
hopping than we thought. It probably took just as long as the longer
route would have. We followed the outlet creek to where our track from
the day before came down. Going mostly uphill on the boulder field was
much easier. No more stepping down and hoping the step was solid and
not into a void between boulders. We did make much better time here.
It's just under a mile from Lewis Lake to Heather Pass but it seemed
like much more. As we neared the end of the boulders we met the first
of many day hikers we would see. After talking to us they chose Maple
Pass over Wing Lake.

We had a quick break at Heather Pass and then headed down. Many many
day hikers were out on this dark damp day. We had no interest in Maple
Pass and headed for the car. The track was less snowy but slicker than
on our ascent. Soon we were back at the trailhead. Coming out we cut
nearly 2 1/2 hours off our ascent time. It was only a little after
noon. As we drove west a strange thing happened. The sky turned blue
and the temperature soared. by Ross Dam it was 57 degrees and by
Marblemount it was 61. That was 24 degrees warmer than at Rainy Pass.

This turned out to be a fun trip. It was not at all what we expected.
Gray and wet one day while freezing cold the other. No fall colors
other than larch trees. The larch were great in some places though well
past prime near Wing Lake. The boulder field was an experience. Not one
I will likely do again soon. All in all it was a great weekend in the
mountains.